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Harold Finch
[[Harold_Finch#Aliases_and_other_names|more]] ) | alias = Harold Finch Harold Wren Harold Crane ( more ) | status = Alive (Presumed dead) | age = | birthdate = | deathdate = | origin = Lassiter, Iowa, USA | occupation = Software engineer Billionaire | affiliation = IFT (formerly) | title = | family = Grace Hendricks (fiancée) Unnamed father Brothers (Unknown number, presumably older) | residence = New York, NY, USA | playedby = Michael Emerson Chris Bert (1979/1980) Parker Brightman (1969/1971) | portrayer2 = | first = | latest = | last = | flashback = }} Harold Finch, also known by a series of aliases with bird-themed last names (such as Harold Wren or Harold Crane), is a reclusive billionaire software genius who built a machine that predicts future crimes and outputs either the victim's or perpetrator's Social Security number. His real first name has been confirmed to be Harold. Biography 1969 Young Harold is living in Lassiter, a small town in Iowa, with his father, who has begun to show early signs of dementia. He demonstrates an acute awareness of mechanics when he dismantles his father's truck engine to discover why it will not run, all in the short time that his father stepped away to take a phone call. He also displays an interest in the local birds. 1971 Harold builds an early proto-computer that can repeat Morse signals that he inputs into it. He expresses a desire to create a machine capable of replacing his father's failing memory. His father's dementia continues to get worse. 1976 Fusco discovers Finch's earliest records list him as "Harold Wren." 1979 Harold's "Phone Phreaking" activities have brought him under the surveillance of the FBI, which has not yet identified him, but has begun to collect a dossier of his illegal activities. His father's condition has deteriorated to the point where he begins wandering away from home. A local police officer suggests his father may require institutionalization. Harold's father tells him he doesn't want him to avoid college because of him, but Harold tells him of a new electronic network that will allow the education to come to him. Harold prepares to admit his father to a care center for the treatment of his memory disorder. 1980 Harold attended MIT along with classmates Nathan Ingram and Arthur Claypool, graduating at the top of his class. October 27. Harold is being investigated by the DoD for an ARPANET Outage Data Breach resulting in his indictment for treason. Harold visits his father and tells him that men will visit him to tell him what his son has done and asks that he not believe them. Sadly, his father no longer recognizes him. Harold also presents his father with a book titled "Eastern Birds" by Roger Tory Peterson. 1981 Finch, Ingram and Claypool create a hack for the Harvard-Yale game that contained an anti-nuclear proliferation message. 1983 Finch founds IFT, along with his friend Ingram. 2001 Ingram informs Finch about the attack on the World Trade Center and reminds him that they had intentions to change the world when they created IFT, but instead, they only became rich and haven't changed anything. Following the incident, the American government hires Nathan to build a machine that would predict future mass attacks on the United States, utilizing the digital feeds from the NSA through the newly enacted Patriot Act and unfettered access to personal information. 2002 Finch first interacts with the first version of The Machine on New Year's Day, 2002, asking it if it can identify him. When he asks "Who am I?" the machine indicates Admin which makes Finch very happy. On February 16, Finch goes out on the street and talks to the Machine via a surveillance camera. The Machine signals him via his cell phone and he tells it that they're going to play hide and seek and tells it to buzz his phone once for "yes" and twice for "no". He asks the Machine if it understands, and his phone buzzes once, indicating that he does. He goes to multiple areas, continuously asking the Machine via his phone if it can see him, to which the Machine keeps buzzing his phone once for "yes". Finch goes into an Internet Cafe, the Machine continues to see him via a laptop's webcam and reflections and can even count how many fingers he holds up when he asks by buzzing his phone three times, much to his delight. On June 10, in an abandoned IFT office floor, Finch is building an early version of the Machine which consists of government feeds from the NSA, including e-mail, phone calls and surveillance cameras. This prototype covers only New York City, and Finch along with Ingram, intends on teaching the Machine how to sort the criminals from the civilians. May 2004 Finch and Nathan walk in the park, and Nathan talks about how he and his wife are still in a trial separation but don't want to talk divorce. He wonders how anyone knows when they've found the one special person in their life and Finch admits that he has no idea. They sit down at a bench and Finch uses a laptop to check in with the Machine and use it to provide a demonstration. He shows Nathan how the Machine has determined that a nearby man, an apparent homeless person, is actually a former violin prodigy with the Philharmonic who gave into drink. Finch explains that he has programmed the Machine to search for outliers. Nathan doesn't believe that level of programming is possible and Finch shows his partner that the Machine has detected that Nathan is dating a graduate student during his separation from his wife. He explains that he has programmed the Machine to understand human behavior by watching everyone, even its creators. The Machine suddenly brings up a file on a nearby woman, Grace Hendricks, who is painting by the river. Finch can't find any anomalies in her history and suspects that there's a bug in the Machine's programming. Nathan comments that the Machine has good taste and Finch gives the woman a second look. 2005 Finch goes out into the streets of NYC and checks in with the Machine via his laptop. As the next step in its "education," he wants it to find out correlations between random strangers. As it works, it flags Grace as an anomaly again as she walks by. Finch assumes that it's a bug and checks her record, confirming that she has no dark or sinister past. He realizes that's the anomaly and that she has an interest in Charles Dickens just like he does. 2006 Finch goes to the park and buys his usual ice cream cone from the vendor despite the fact it's winter. The vendor has been keeping some ice cream just for Finch, his regular customer, and points out that Finch doesn't deny himself small pleasures. Surprised and pleased at the man's perception, Finch receives a text message from the Machine. It simply mentions Grace's name, and Finch goes over to talk to the woman. Finch meets Grace and offers her an ice cream. The two soon become a couple. Finch and Grace meet at a coffee shop and she talks about how she saw the famous painting The Red Tower when she went to Italy. She talks about how it inspired her to become an artist and explore mysteries, and she asks Finch where he's traveled. He admits that he made it to Venice after college but avoids saying anything else. Finch meets Nathan at a restaurant and his partner comments that he's running late. He jokingly asks if Finch had a date and then realizes that he did. Finch avoids talking about it and Nathan goes along with it, telling his partner that a little mystery goes a long way. Finch asks about Nathan's wife Olivia and Nathan admits that he saw her recently and couldn't even remember all of the lies that he told her. He tells Finch that the truth inevitably catches up with everyone. Grace is waiting for Finch at a restaurant when a bike messenger gives her an envelope. It's from Finch, inviting her on a birthday scavenger hunt. She eagerly sets out across the city, following the clues at each new location, and finally ends up at the Guggenheim Museum. Finch is waiting for Grace inside the closed museum. She thanks him for the birthday surprise but he says that it isn't over yet and takes her through the empty halls to the art gallery. Hanging on the wall is The Red Tower and Finch claims that an anonymous donor gave it to the museum. Smiling, Finch wishes Grace a happy birthday. Grace and Finch leave the Guggenheim and she realizes that he's upset about something. They sit down and Finch tells her that she should know what he does for a living. Grace assures him that nothing he could say would change her feelings for him, but suggests that he do it when he isn't upset. Finch agrees and Grace tells him that they'll discover the mysteries of life together, and then kisses him. 2007 At the same abandoned office floor from five years ago, Ingram confronts Finch about the Machine's way of sorting crimes - focusing on the mass-terror threats, while labeling smaller crimes as "irrelevant," and deleting them every night at midnight. Finch claims they built the Machine not to save "someone," but rather "everyone." 2009-2010 Despite the decision to not add back doors to the machine, after its shipment, Ingram speaks with Finch again, upset because they're not saving the life of people that are in imminent danger. Finch wants both to move on and start working in something new, although his partner seems worried about the issue. On Day 3178 of the Machine's operation, or September 13, 2010, he proposes to Grace by hiding a ring inside "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen. She says yes. Finch would go on to tell Ingram about his engagement, only to follow him into The Library. He discovers that Ingram had created a backdoor into the Machine to give him access to the irrelevant list. Disheartened by this, Finch claims that Nathan has threatened everything he'd built, and promptly deletes Ingram's contingency function. The operation terminates the same moment that Ingram's own number appeared, going unnoticed by either party. Two weeks later (Day 3190), Harold asks why Ingram hasn't been in the office or returned his calls. Ingram claims he quit IFT, and is meeting a reporter the next day to tell him about the Machine. Harold asks what he can do to prevent this, and Nathan demands access to the irrelevant list once more. Refusing his request, Nathan says he will meet the reporter, and that Harold should meet him at the ferry terminal. The next day, Harold briefly meets with Nathan at the ferry terminal before a car bomb detonates nearby. Nathan is killed in the blast, and Harold is severely injured. Awakening at a field hospital set up in a gym, Harold sees Nathan pronounced dead, and two government officials confirming his death on the phone to an unknown party. Realizing who was responsible, Harold quickly escapes, but not before avoiding Grace who assumes his death upon finding a tattered and burned "Sense and Sensibility" among the personal effects of the deceased. Returning to the library, Harold resumes the contingency function and discovers Nathan's number was produced by the Machine. The irrelevant list is cleared seconds later at midnight. Later that year, Finch talks to a therapist, asking about grief. Finch says that he plans to do something "radical" in honor of Ingram, but the therapist advises against it. They bring up the topic of survivor's guilt, a feeling of responsibility for someone else's death. Finch's therapist tells Finch that he is not god, and cannot control who lives or dies, therefore making it not his fault that Ingram died, assuring him that his guilt will pass. Finch then asks if survivor's guilt ever passes if everything that happens is your fault. According to him, he faked his death to protect Grace from the people who know of the Machine. Unbeknownst to her, Finch started watching her from afar and probably arranging work for her to support herself as a freelance artist. According to X-rays analyzed by Megan Tillman, Finch had a spinal fusion surgery as a result of his injury during this time period due to the bombing. At some unknown point in this time period, Finch creates and releases a virus that is intended to "free" the Machine. 2011 After faking his death, Finch is horrified to realize that Ingram was one of the "irrelevant" numbers that would have been saved. He reactivates the "Contingency" function that Ingram installed which he had deactivated the day before Ingram's death. At some point, he recoded Ingram's program so that instead of issuing him numbers directly, the numbers are encoded using the Dewey decimal system which correspond to books in the library. February After observing the death of Ingram, who was one of the "irrelevant" victims, a distraught Finch, in a wheelchair, tracks John Reese, a former CIA agent, with ties to one of the "irrelevant" victims. September . ]] Finch helps Reese leave police custody in a police station with the help of a lawyer after he (Reese) defends himself in subway brawl. Finch then hires him to spy on every possible victim the Machine supplies, and prevent or save them from the upcoming attack. After Reese discovers Finch's employment at IFT, Finch quits his job without any notice. 2012 May While assisting in the rescue of a person of interest, Finch is captured by Root, who made herself a Person of Interest by placing her own life in danger of being murdered by paying HR to kill her, gambling her life that Finch would try to save her. Successful in her gambit, she kidnaps Finch and take him to various locations to try and determine the location of the Machine, and how to access it. He is later rescued by Reese, with help from Detective Carter and the Machine. Finch later attends Carter's funeral, and sheds tears at her death. Later, with help from Shaw, Fusco, and Root, tries to stop Reese, who was on a vengeful hunting spree after Carter's killer. Skills and Talents *'Computer expert:' Finch is highly skilled with technology, as he was able to build a machine that, according to him, watches through every camera, listens to every microphone, etc. He has also built several devices for Reese, such as bugs for listening in on people, SIM card readers to clone phones, and a Bluetooth headset which allows them to be in contact. *'Vast wealth and resources:' As a billionaire, Finch has bought different types of corporations and buildings, like The Library and he has the resources needed to back cover stories and buy an interest in a company. He also has several business connections and it is implied that he uses them to help his former fiancée Grace Hendricks by making sure that she always has work and she's always taken care of financially. *'Anonymity:' Finch is also skilled at being "hidden" from the world as he has kept most of his life a mystery and has had so many aliases, that Fusco believes that Finch himself doesn't even remember his real name. When he and Reese first worked together, Finch supplied him with six cover identities. Usually if a POI is put in a situation where they have to leave town, Finch is usually able to supply them with passports, cover identities, startup cash, etc. *'Encryption and decryption:' Finch is skilled at creating and decrypting coded messages. He programmed the Machine to send him numbers in a code using the Dewey Decimal System with the books in The Library. When he was held hostage by Root, he left a message for Reese on a phone in Tap Code, which Reese later found and decoded. *'Counter-surveillance:' Finch is also shown to be an expert in counter-surveillance tactics. When Reese and Shaw each first joined him, they each tried to follow him, only to lose him around a corner. He has also been able to detect even the most subtle interrogation tactics, such as when Reese asked what's good for breakfast at the restaurant they were meeting and Finch deduced that Reese was trying to figure out if he was a regular and thus, if he lived nearby. Notes *On a few occasions, Finch mentions that he previously lost someone, most likely either Nathan, since he was his partner and died, or Grace, since he had to leave her, or possibly both. *When asked why he tries to save people he states, "I have my reasons." *It has been implied that he regrets building the Machine, as he mentioned to Caleb Phipps, while looking up at a camera, and therefore the Machine, that his "biggest mistake" lead Harold to him. Identity *Finch's Social Security number is XXX-XX-5492. *After searching all known databases, the Machine recognizes Finch as UNKNOWN. It makes a note to check additional databases. The Machine later recognizes Finch as SYSADMIN at the end of the episode "Wolf and Cub" when Reese and Fusco are discussing him. The Machine recognizes him as ADMIN when Finch asks "Who am I"?. *It is suggested that Finch was the hacker who exposed the code of the, at the time, military-controlled computer network ARPANET, leading to the eventual creation of the World Wide Web, a feat he accomplished as "...kid with a homemade computer..." . In Wolf and Cub, Detective Fusco mentions that in a background investigation, he found out that 'Harold Wren', the name with which he enrolled in MIT in the '70s, was also a false name. This could mean that for his own safety and avoiding the suspicion of the government, he has been using false identities ever since he exposed ARPANET. In a conversation with Nathan Ingram about Finch's intention to propose marriage to Grace, Ingram reveals that Finch is wanted for sedition . Injuries *Judging from the x-ray images Megan Tillman analysed , it appears that Finch has had a cervical spinal fusion of the C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae, more precisely, a 2-level posterolateral fusion. In this type of fusion surgery bone graft is placed between the transverse processes in the back of the spine. To provide stability, the vertebrae are then fixed using metal screws or wires attached to a metal rod on each side of the vertebrae. As a result of this procedure and the preceding accident, Finch displays a range of physical disabilities such as the inability to turn his head, rigid posture, a limp, and possible chronic pain. Despite that, these injuries do not seem to limit Finch's mobility much in any way. He can be seen doing push-ups , climbing stairs and is frequently assisting Reese out in the field. *Following his abduction and ordeal with Root, Finch appears to suffer classic symptoms of PTSD including irrational fears, panic attacks, and agrophobia. The introduction of Bear serves as a healing device for Finch, who at first shows disdain for the new addition, but later covets and spoils him. In addition, some of Harold's other character traits are challenged by Bear such as his germaphobia and his desire for solitude. During the early episodes of Season 2 we can see see a noticeable transformation in the character of Finch that some may call humanizing. Finch, who has spent the last decade in hiding and usually went out in public accompanied by his private security detail, now has to walk Bear regularly. His germaphobia is apparent when he uses a tissue to pick up Bear's tennis ball, but in time we see him throwing the ball without any such protection. Additionally, Finch is shown getting much personal satisfaction from the feeding and care he provides to Bear. This may be due to the systematic way in which he goes about it. Further, for a man who has been on the run for most of his life and who deals now with the life and death of others on a regular basis, Finch is unable to take from Bear a squeaky toy that he bought for him because Bear enjoys it so much, even though it annoys him and interferes with his work. Aliases *As Norman Burdett, he works as a paralegal at Marmostein Ribner. His phone number is listed as (917) 555-0131. *As Harold Wren, he works at Universal Heritage Insurance. The address is 930 W 57th Street, Suite (unknown), New York, NY, 10019. The phone number is (202) 555-0112. *As Harold Crow, he works as a private investigator. His business address is 920 E 68th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY, 10065. The phone number is (212) 555-0179. *As Harold Starling, he works as an Information Technology Manager at Rylatech. His employee I.D. number is 237412874. *His current alias "Harold Finch" has been mentioned twice so far, by Alicia Corwin , and Greer / . He is usually called either "Finch" or "Harold", or uses a different alias. *His aliases are often associated with birds, as shown with Finch, Partridge, Wren, Crane, Crow, Swift, and Swan as well as the previously mentioned alias, ''Burd''ett (which may be an anagram for the bird Red Butt). *Other nicknames include "Mr. Glasses" "imaginary friend" "tech support" , Reese , Mr. Four-Eyes and Mr. Vocabulary Mr. Good News (Fusco's phone), The Invisible Man Nathan Flashbacks * : Finch's days at IFT; introduces Nathan Ingram * : Finch watches Nathan talk with Alicia Corwin and Denton Weeks about the Machine, later explaining to Nathan how the Machine identified it's first number * : Finch and Nathan prepare to sell the Machine to the government; Nathan secretly creates the "Contingency" function * : Finch training the Machine during it's starting years * : Finch continues training the Machine, and eventually meets his fiancée, Grace * : Finch's happy times with Grace; set during Grace's birthday * : Finch learns about the 9/11 attacks * : Finch discovers the Library and confronts Nathan about the irrelevant list * : Finch's injury and Nathan's death from the ferry bombing, and how Finch is forced to hide from Grace * : Finch sees a therapist, due to his guilt over the ferry bombing * : Finch's childhood; introduces his father Trivia *Finch grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the same birthplace as his actor, Michael Emerson. from the Season 2 set. ]] *While on set, the character is referred to as Harold Finch. *Showed knowledge of ranging and windage when asked by Reese to spot for him while he engaged a diplomatic vehicle with a sniper rifle. *Is skilled at Chess. *Collects rare books (first editions),180 gram vinyl records and Xerox Alto computers (when he can get one). *Doesn't drink coffee. He prefers Sencha green tea (with one sugar). *Drives a black Lincoln Town Car with a New York license plate (LXQ-2038). *His phone number or some other form of numeric identification is located in the first 3000 digits of Pi. *Harold has a voicemail box number @ (917)-285-7362. Note this is not in the first 3000 digits of PI. *Harold demonstrates good knowledge of large multiplication . *Harold either invented, or was instrumental in inventing social networking, to assist the Machine with establishing interpersonal relationships. He notes that it was difficult to link people together until he discovered they were more than willing to provide the information themselves. *Appears to be interested in baseball. *Is an accomplished and skilled pilot. *Finch does not like guns. *Has the ability to tailor a suit *He does not like heights *In the first two seasons, we never see Finch's current place of residence. *Served as a Docent with the NYC Guggenheim Museum. *Is an expert at counter-surveillance as he loses both Reese and later Shaw who try to follow him. es:Harold Finch Finch Category:Male Characters John Reese Category:Characters with Yellow Box Category:Characters